Return to the Digital World IV: Value
by SeaSpectre160
Summary: Frontier: Shin'ya is the only one without a Spirit yet, and starts to drift away from the Legendary Warriors, just when they need him the most. 5 years post-series. Hints of pre-Izumi/OC. Part 4/9 of Return to the Digital World.
1. A Want of Power

**Gasp! Could it be? Is it true? After five years, a brand-new entry in 'Return to the Digital World'?!**

 **Yes, ladies and gentlemen, it has been WAY too long, but I've finally returned to this series and finished off the draft that I started five years ago! I know, I promised this around this time last year, after delaying by revising and reposting the first three parts, but those shiny new fandoms were still distracting me, and then I went four/five months without the very binder this story was kept in, so I had to make do with the fics that weren't in there. But I'm back now, and am proud to present 'Return to the Digital World IV: Value'!**

 **For those who are unaware, I did some major revising of Parts 1, 2, and 3, so you'll want to read those in order to avoid confusion, as I've changed a few things, including the Digimon names and forms of some of the newbies. The new versions are on my profile page in addition to the old ones.**

 **To recap, all the original six heroes now have their Human Spirit forms back, and all the newbies except Shin'ya have theirs.**

 **DISCLAIMER: I don't own Digimon or any of its characters.**

 **WORD COUNT: 1968**

* * *

"So it is decided," Succumon stated, "The Legendary Warriors will soon go to the next known location of a Spirit. With any luck, one of the remaining new Spirits will be discovered nearby, and we can claim both!"

"Decided?" that buffoon Incumon interrupted, "I don't remember Master saying anything about that."

"He doesn't need to. Our Master has much to take care of; he doesn't have time to bother himself with the details, so I am taking care of them for him. Now, as I was saying, the humans will most likely be heading to the Gotsumon Village next to retrieve the Beast Spirit of Light. I already have a Digimon attempting to breach their defenses. We shall arrive there ahead of them and search for it. When the humans arrive, they will split up to look for the newer Spirit on their own, and that is when we shall strike and seize the Warrior of Steel, before he can retrieve his own Spirit, and his disappearance and eventual death will break their team apart, starting with their leader."

* * *

 _Saturday, April 14_ _th_ _, 2007_

"KACHIKACHI KOCCHIN!" Chackmon covered the boulder with a very thick layer of ice with his freezing breath.

"Good hit," Gnomemon commented.

"Thanks. Now try to break the ice _without_ doing any damage to the stone underneath. If you can get this level of control down, you'll be able to handle your powers much better."

The Legendary Warriors, minus Juan Cortez, were out in the woods, away from the city and any prying eyes, practicing their powers in a large clearing. Juan wasn't able to come because his mother, whom he'd told about them, had forbidden him from getting involved anymore, and barely let him out of her sight.

Each of the ten Warriors held dominion over two ancient Digimon Spirits, one humanoid and one bestial, but most of them had only attained the former. Six of them had possessed both of theirs five years earlier, but they'd been returned to their hidden locations in the Digital World, the alternate dimension the Legendary Warriors were chosen to protect.

The hot-headed leader, Agnimon, aka Kanbara Takuya, aged sixteen, held the Spirits of Flame. The one who held the unofficial, yet undisputed, role of second-in-command was sixteen-year-old Minamoto Kōji, although he was currently in the form known as Wolfmon, Warrior of Light. The youngest of the original six was the Warrior of Ice, thirteen-year-old Himi Tomoki. He could take the form of Chackmon. One of the only two girls on the team, the Warrior of Wind known as sixteen-year-old Orimoto Izumi, flew above them as Fairimon. The team's second-eldest member (but the oldest of the originals) was Blitzmon, the Warrior of Thunder. He was better known as Shibayama Junpei, aged seventeen. Rounding off the original six was Kimura Kōichi, Kōji's older identical twin brother. He possessed the Spirits of Darkness, and was currently in the form of Lowemon.

There were four newer additions to the team: Miura Kyōsuke (seventeen), Alexis 'Lexi' Walsh (sixteen), Juan Cortez (twelve), and Takuya's younger brother Shin'ya, whose upcoming thirteenth birthday would mark the fifth anniversary of the original team's journey to the Digital World. Respectively, they were the Warriors of Earth, Water, Wood, and Steel, and all but Shin'ya had found their first Spirit.

The ten also had five Digimon friends: Bokomon, Neemon, Patamon, Plottmon, and Lopmon, but they were currently in the Digital World. They'd once tried to return to the Human World with them, but Neemon in particular was terrible at blending in and pretending to be an inanimate stuffed animal, plus most of the Warriors were too old to be carrying such 'toys' around.

The experienced Warriors had already pretty much mastered the abilities of their Digimon forms, so they were trying to teach the new kids some degree of control. The key word here being 'trying'.

Kyōsuke, as Gnomemon, launched his 'Boulder Wave' attack at the ice-covered rock, dumping a whole load of other, larger rocks on it and not only shattering the crystalline shell, but also reducing the stone underneath to small fragments.

Wolfmon smacked his forehead in frustration. "You overdid it again. What part of 'no damaging the rock' did you not understand, Gnomemon?"

"Sorry," an irritated Gnomemon apologised, shrugging, "This is harder than it looks."

"Hey, ease up on the guy," Fairimon came to his defence. "Remember, we didn't even _get_ this kind of training when we first started. We had to learn it as we went along."

"Yeah, so quit acting like you know how to teach us anything. We can probably learn this stuff on our own, too. Watch this: SINKHOLE!" In a desperate burst of desire to regain a little bit of his dignity, Gnomemon created a large hole in the ground. It had been intended as a relatively small one, but the gap quickly began to crumble out of his control.

Lowemon and Nymphmon (Lexi) were close enough that they had to jump out of the way to avoid falling in, but Shin'ya, who'd been sitting and watching from the edge of the clearing, wasn't so lucky. The ground beneath him collapsed before he could even get to his feet, and he screamed as he started to plummet, but Blitzmon flew in and pulled him back up just in time.

"Shin'ya!" Agnimon shouted, reverting back to his regular form and running over to his brother, "Are you alright?!"

All the others returned to normal as well, once Gnomemon got his sinkhole to stop spreading. "And _this_ is why you need to learn control," Kōji stated bluntly.

Kyōsuke looked absolutely terrified when he saw the furious expression on Takuya's face. "That's an understatement!" the leader snapped, "You could've seriously hurt him! If Junpei hadn't gotten to him in time, who knows what would've happened?! He can't even Spirit Evolve to get himself out of the way!"

At this, Shin'ya turned and started to walk away. "Hey, Shin'ya, where're you going?" Tomoki called after him.

"Home," Shin'ya replied bitterly over his shoulder, "All I'm really doing is getting in the way, anyway."

* * *

 _"_ _Aw shit,"_ Tomoki thought to himself, _"I'm_ _ **so**_ _going to be late!"_

Thanks to Warrior training, he was running _way_ late for spring soccer tryouts. His best friend Sasuke had insisted that they try out together; he would _not_ be happy.

It wasn't really the actual training that'd made him late, it was the 'discussion' that'd taken place after Shin'ya's departure. Takuya was still mad at Kyōsuke for almost accidentally killing his brother. Kyōsuke, though clearly shaken by what had nearly happened, had gotten defensive about it thanks to his wounded pride, blaming Shin'ya for even being in the way. This statement, of course, had angered Takuya even more, and resulted in Kyōsuke stalking away.

The rest of the training session had been spent trying to calm Takuya down. The twins, Junpei, Tomoki, and Lexi (Izumi had run after Kyōsuke to try and figure out what his problem was) had tried their best, but their leader was still simmering and worrying about Shin'ya. He'd considered going after his brother, but Junpei had advised against it. He'd said that he knew how Shin'ya felt, reminding them that in the original group of five, before they'd even known Kōichi existed, he'd been the last to receive a Spirit.

It'd been at that point that Tomoki had realised that he was late, and dashed off. He'd had to stop by his house to grab his gear (just his luck, his house happened to be in the opposite direction from the tryouts), catch the bus, and run past the swimming complex and ice rink to arrive at the public soccer field, where tryouts were being held. He finally arrived, huffing and puffing, nearly halfway through the tryout. The coaches had disapproving expressions on their faces as one checked Tomoki's name off a clipboard.

"Dude, where the hell have you been?" Sasuke asked as Tomoki stood next to him in line for one of the drills.

"Sorry. Got caught up in… uh… something else, and lost track of time."

"What's been going on with you lately? You've been disappearing a lot, you won't tell me what you're up to, and you've _never_ been this late before."

"Uh… It's kind of hard to explain." Tomoki was temporarily spared from answering when Sasuke's turn for the drill came.

The last time he'd been involved with the Digital World, this hadn't been a problem. He hadn't had to go back and forth between two lives and come up with excuses for where he was disappearing to. This was going to be far more difficult than he'd originally thought.

* * *

Shin'ya was in his room, moodily staring at the ceiling, when his cell phone rang again. He checked the caller ID and let it ring when he saw that it was Nii-san. Again.

When his brother had first described the Digital World to him, Shin'ya's initial reaction had been to wonder if that basketball to the head had given him brain damage. Still, he'd humoured him, and the trip to the secret basement terminal had been enough to make him a believer.

The first time he'd seen Nii-san Spirit Evolve, he'd been in complete awe. He couldn't wait to do it himself. Even at twelve-going-on-thirteen, Shin'ya still looked up to his big brother. And since then, he'd been yearning to be just as strong and powerful.

But now he was the only one who hadn't, yet. Kyōsuke, Lexi, and even Juan, who'd nearly wet himself on their first trip, had all gotten badass new powers, while he was still the weak link, the load. This morning's disaster had proven that much.

His phone buzzed again, this time with a text alert. Shin'ya frowned at the offending device; those who'd gained Spirits now had the ability to switch their cell phones into D-Scanners and back at will while in this world. He didn't. It was a mediocre trick compared to anything else they could do, but it was still something even he couldn't pull off.

Shin'ya read the text out of sheer boredom. It wasn't from Nii-san this time; it was from Junpei. _'Get to Shibuya Station. Kōji just got some sort of distress signal, and we're heading out to investigate.'_

He seriously considered just staying in his room. It wasn't like he would really be needed.

As if the elder Legendary Warrior was somehow reading his mind, his phone buzzed with another text. _'We need all 10 warriors, Shin'ya. Just because you don't have a Spirit yet, doesn't mean you're useless.'_

Shin'ya sighed and sat up. He might as well head out.

As he left the house, he heard someone calling his name. He turned around to see his best friend Matsuno Mami, a basketball tucked under her arm. "Hey! I'm glad I caught you! A bunch of us were heading down to the courts for a game. Want to come?"

"Uh… sorry. I'm meeting my brother, we'll be busy for a while. Maybe some other time, 'kay?"

He hurried off, not seeing the expression on Mami's face that was a combination of exasperation, suspicion, and determination.

* * *

 **So yeah, next chapter will be up in two weeks, as I am finally returning to that pattern. The story is written out in its entirety, as I dislike posting fics that I haven't finished (not that that's stopped me before). So I will be posting new chapters on Sept 5 and 19, and Oct 13. However, it'll then be another wait before I get around to Part V, as I haven't even begun to write it, and my new priority ordering system puts 15 other stories between it and this one. Basically I'm putting up one part of a series or a sequel in the order in which it was last updated, then a couple stand-alone stories before starting the cycle over. So once I'm done getting all the chapters of this story saved, I'll be finishing my half-posted 'The Star-Crazy Cult', then finishing the 'Avatar Niella' series, the sequel to 'Miriam', a new addition to the 'United AU', a sequel to 'Himitsu no Hōki', and so on. Any work/series that has been recently updated has been shifted to the bottom of my priority list, which unfortunately includes this one with this new update.**

 **But until then, I'm glad that I'm finally able to give you guys this new story. Enjoy!**

 **Spectre out.**


	2. Overpowered

**Here's Chapter 2! So you may notice in this story (and in the last) that I left Bokomon and the other smaller Digimon kind of off to the side. The truth is that I'm not sure what to do with them as characters. Aside from comic relief, I found that they didn't add a whole lot to the plot of the original series (that is, once Seraphimon, Ophanimon, and Cherubimon were defeated). It's just been a bit hard finding something for them to _do_.**

 **DISCLAIMER: I don't own Digimon or any of its characters.**

 **WORD COUNT: 1894**

* * *

 _Saturday, April 14_ _th_ _, 2007_

Sasuke was having difficulty staying far enough away to not look like he was following them, but close enough to not lose sight. Tomoki had gotten a mysterious phone call as they were walking home from soccer tryouts, and had immediately taken off, leaving Sasuke alone with their bags. Sasuke had decided enough was enough, dumped the gear at his place, and hurried towards Juan Cortez's apartment, as Tomoki had told the caller that he'd swing by there to pick the new kid up.

Sure enough, he got there in time to see the two of them exiting the building. "So how long can your dad cover for you?" Tomoki was asking.

"Mamà shouldn't be back until suppertime," Juan answered, "so I have a few hours."

Sasuke followed them all the way to the train station in Shibuya, all the while wondering what they were up to. He saw them meeting up with a couple of Tomoki's older friends (he couldn't remember any of their names at the moment).

It was then that he noticed the other tail. It was a girl about his age with short brown hair and baggy, tomboyish clothes. She showed up after one of the younger boys, and was hiding behind a trash can, garnering funny looks from the commuters who noticed her.

Tomoki and his group all crammed into the elevator, and it wasn't until the doors closed that Sasuke and the girl both moved from their hiding places (he'd concealed himself behind a conveniently placed pillar and pretended to check his phone). The girl blinked in surprise. "Uh, hello. You're following them, too?"

"Um… yeah. I'm guessing you've also been wondering where a friend of yours has been disappearing to?"

"Yeah, I mean, Shin'ya's close with his brother and all, but lately they've been constantly going off to hang out together, never saying what they're doing, and never letting me come along. They're being all weird and secretive."

"My friend Tomoki's been doing the same thing." He looked up at the display above the elevator and frowned. "What are they doing in the basement?"

The girl shrugged, pushing the 'down' button. It took a long minute for the elevator to arrive, and they entered and hit the button for the basement. There was an awkward silence at first. "I'm Matsuno Mami, by the way."

"Kagura Sasuke."

Any further conversation was interrupted when the elevator suddenly dropped, descending much more rapidly than before. Matsuno shrieked and grabbed onto the handrail on the wall. It then abruptly stopped, and Sasuke had to grab the railing as well to keep from falling over.

The 'ding' of the elevator doors could barely be heard over Matsuno's cursing. Sasuke's eyes widened when he took in the wide expanse before them. On the other side of the doors was a huge, empty train station. About a half-dozen sets of tracks disappeared into dark tunnels, and one dark red train was just pulling away. "Hey!" he called, running out, but the locomotive didn't stop, not that he really expected it to. He wondered if Tomoki and the others were aboard. But where were they going?

* * *

The Trailmon took them to the station closest to the Gotsumon Village, which was where the distress signal was coming from, but it was still a bit of a distance to travel. So, once they met up with Bokomon and the others, they all Spirit Evolved and ran or flew the distance, with a disgruntled Shin'ya hanging off his brother's back and the smaller Digimon doing likewise with the others.

What they hadn't expected was to be anticipated by someone else. As they neared the edges of the village, a shout of "HUNTING CANNON!" could be heard, and a yellow laser hit the ground in front of the Legendary Warriors, forcing them to skid to a halt.

"We've seen that attack before!" Wolfmon realised before their opponent came into view, "Centarumon!"

The half-humanoid, half-horse Digimon reared up on his hind legs, firing another volley of blasts from his arm cannons. The Warriors dodged, Shin'ya and the smaller Digimon taking cover behind some large rocks.

"Is there only one this time?" Lowemon wondered, "I clearly remember wiping the floor with a whole army of these things."

"Get out of our way!" Blitzmon challenged.

Centarumon only roared and charged at them, causing them to scatter. A dark red aura appeared around him, and he roared even louder before firing again at Gnomemon, who happened to be closest. This time, the beam was bigger, brighter, and red, and though Gnomemon dodged it easily, the shockwave from the explosion when it hit the ground sent him flying.

"My goodness!" Bokomon cried, "I don't remember any of the Centarumon being this powerful!"

"Where'd he get this kind of power from?!" Chackmon wondered aloud.

"From me." The Warriors all glanced around, and saw a tall figure appear on the branch of a nearby tree. She was tall, easily dwarfing the two female Legendary Warriors and most of the males, and had an athletic build. Her skin was pale grey in colour, and her long, braided hair was nearly pure white. She was dressed in deep crimson armour with silver accents, consisting of a metal breastplate with a short skirt, knee-high boots, and greaves, worn over black leather pants. She also wore a crimson and silver Spartan-design helmet, framing her seductively beautiful face, glowing red eyes, and small, red devil's horns on either side of her forehead. A long, red, barbed tail reached her ankles, and she carried a long spear with a blood-red shaft and a wicked-looking silver point. She also had large, red and pale grey bat-like wings growing out of her back.

"Who are you?" Fairimon demanded.

The female Digimon smiled maliciously, exposing pointed canines like those of a vampire. "I am Lady Succumon, Cunning Huntress of the Night. You shall receive the honour of being my prey." Without any other warning, she jumped down, moving so quickly she was nearly a blur, and thrust her spear forward, grazing the side of Wolfmon's armour as he twisted out of the way at the last second.

Centarumon, taking advantage of the distraction she provided, fired another super-charged 'Hunting Cannon', this time aiming at the rocks Shin'ya was hiding behind. "SHIN'YA!" Agnimon yelled, trying to run over, only to be blocked by Succumon's spear.

"Worry about your own skin," she purred, "I _never_ lose a battle."

The blast shattered the rocks to bits, sending the pieces flying in all directions. Luckily, Shin'ya had already started running the second the weapon had been turned on his hiding place, and had managed to avoid to avoid the explosion by diving to the ground, but still got the wind knocked out of him.

Centarumon advanced on him, arm outstretched as if to grab him, but was suddenly interrupted. "ANGRY ROCK!" The two enemy Digimon were suddenly bombarded by a hail of stones slightly smaller than a human head. A horde of small, grey, stone Digimon appeared over the crest of the upcoming hill – the Gotsumon. The one at the front of the group wore a magnifying glass on his neck from a cord.

"Come on!" he called to the Legendary Warriors, "We need to get out of here now!"

They didn't want to run away from a fight, but Agnimon made the decision to get his little brother out of there before he really got hurt. "Fall back!" he ordered, "Head to the village! SALAMANDER BREAK!"

Succumon jumped back to avoid the flames, a cruel smile playing on her red lips. "Running away already? You can run all you want, but you'll never be able to hide from me," She spread her wings, lifting herself up over their heads and landing near where Shin'ya was starting to get up. "I'll just take my primary catch and go, then." She stabbed her spear into the ground, causing a glowing red outline of a circle to appear on the ground around them. "CHASING CLOUD!"

Centarumon galloped over to land in the circle before thick, crimson vapour began to billow out of the border.

"NO!" Agnimon yelled, charging forward, "SHIN'YA!" All the Legendary Warriors dove for the three of them, but only Blitzmon, who was closest, managed to get into the circle before a shockwave knocked the other eight back. The vapour rose above their heads and flew away, leaving the space on the ground empty.

Agnimon changed back into Takuya and dropped to his knees, punching the ground. "No!"

* * *

The Gotsumon led the remaining eight remaining Legendary Warriors to their village. It had changed in the years since the veterans had been there. A rough rock wall, seemingly newly built, turned the small settlement into a fortress, with more Gotsumon patrolling along the top.

"That Centarumon has been harassing us for a couple weeks now," the leader of their escort group, who appeared to be good friends with Kōji, explained, "so we had to put up a wall and everything. We're pretty sure he's after the Light Beast Spirit. We've been able to hold him off for a while, but once we heard you guys were back in the Digital World, I figured it would be safer to get that Spirit back to its original owner as soon as possible."

"And what about Succumon?" Izumi asked, "How is she involved?"

"We've only heard rumours about her; never saw her in person until today. But the word is that she's the top lieutenant of the new Digimon Overlord that's trying to take over."

"Indeed," Bokomon took over, "She's a dangerous huntress, one who doesn't give up once she's decided to hunt you down. No one has truly beaten her in a fight, either."

"What about Shin'ya?!" Takuya demanded, "What's going to happen to my little brother now that that witch has them?!"

"She took Junpei, too," Kōji reminded him.

"Yeah, him, too."

Gotsumon looked up at him. "I don't know. Succumon usually just kills her prey. If she's keeping them, she's up to something."

That obviously did absolutely nothing to make Takuya feel better. Kyōsuke noted that the team leader grew even more panicked, probably coming up with horrible scenario after horrible scenario in his head.

Seeing that Takuya was in no shape to come up with a plan, Kōji stepped forward. "If Junpei and Shin'ya still have their D-Scanners on them, we can track them. And the sooner we get the Spirit out of the enemy's reach, the better. I say we split up into two teams. Tomoki, Izumi, and Kyōsuke, you guys track the others with Takuya. The rest of us will go after the Spirit and then join up with you."

"Four people to collect one Spirit?" Kyōsuke questioned, raising one eyebrow.

"If Succumon or Centarumon go after it, I'm not taking my chances. No one goes off on their own, got it? We back each other up."

* * *

 **Next chapter, the Legendary Warriors face Succumon again, and Junpei and Shin'ya have a talk.**


	3. Believing in One's Own Power

**And here's another chapter! I have to admit, I'm a bit disappointed that this story hasn't gotten a whole load of responses, but I guess that's what I get for taking so long to update a series; those who were following it before tend to give up when it doesn't get updated.**

 **DISCLAIMER: I don't own Digimon or any of its characters.**

 **WORD COUNT: 1470**

* * *

 _Saturday, April 14_ _th_ _, 2007_

"Tighter, Centarumon. We don't want them escaping."

Junpei winced as the enemy Digimon tightened the ropes binding his hands behind his back, and scowled at his superior. 'Lady' Succumon had both his and Shin'ya's D-Scanners and was messing around with them.

"You think you're such a great warrior?!" he yelled at her, "I don't care if you're a girl, give me my D-Scanner back and we'll see if you're any good in a real fight!"

She just sneered at him. "Silence, Thunder Warrior. You are merely an insurance policy. A _spare_ insurance policy. Do not test my patience, or I may decide that it is unnecessary to keep you alive." She seemed to have lost the enjoyment and intensity she'd had in the fight. Now she was all business. Turning back to Centarumon, she gave him an order: "Guard the entrance, and kill anyone who tries to rescue them. I will return once I have obtained the Spirit." And she left the cliffside cave they were in. Centarumon obeyed his mistress, moving to the cave entrance to stand guard.

Junpei glanced at his back, then turned to look at Shin'ya to check that he was okay. The younger boy was gazing dejectedly at the floor. He was a bit roughed up from struggling against their captors, but Junpei himself was no better off. "You okay?"

"I'm fine," Shin'ya snapped, "Just because I don't have powers doesn't mean I'm fragile or anything!"

Junpei frowned. "You don't need to bite my head off. Look, I get it. You don't have a Spirit yet, and you're feeling left out. Don't worry; your time will come."

Shin'ya snorted. "Yeah, right. How could _you_ possibly get how I'm feeling?"

"Because I was the last one to get a Spirit last time. I got to sit back and watch as everyone around me got stronger while I stayed the same. Hell, Tomoki was just an eight-year-old crybaby, and suddenly even he was tougher than me! It was disappointing to say the least."

That confession had Shin'ya looking a bit ashamed for snapping at him like he did. "I… I really thought that the Spirit at the Tanemon village was mine. I was so excited to finally get to Spirit Evolve like Nii-san, and I got my hopes up. It sucks."

"Yeah, I know, it does. But it doesn't last forever, really. Your Spirits _are_ out there."

Shin'ya looked up at him, and Junpei could see some of the weight lifting from his shoulders.

* * *

The Lady Succumon, Cunning Huntress of the Night, knew that she was close to her prize. Not only was the D-Scanner's map indicating that fact, but her hunter's instincts were telling her as well. The Spirit was almost in her grasp.

She descended into the dark mine shaft, located outside the borders of the Gotsumon Village. The fools hadn't ventured out there in days, too focused on defending their walls and protecting the Light Beast Spirit. She'd been planning on grabbing that one next, but with the presence of the Warrior of Light, that part of her plan had to be scrapped. Taking out one of the Warriors completely more important than denying one a power-up. It would be possible to steal the Spirit from him later, anyway.

"Shin'ya!" the Warrior of Flame's voice sounded from behind her. He was charging towards her, with the Warriors of Ice, Wind, and Earth right on his heels. "Where's my brother, you witch?"

Succumon smirked. "Not here, fool. Did you really think I'd forget that you can track each other with these?" She held up both D-Scanners for them to see. "As if I'd allow my leverage to be rescued so easily." She had no intentions of allowing either of them to live, but if the other Warriors thought that she might do so, they might be more compliant, and the false hope would make the deaths of their fellows that much more painful.

* * *

"Just a bit further," Shin'ya whispered, hoping against hope that Centarumon didn't hear him. The horse-man Digimon was, thankfully, keeping his eyes on the outside, and mostly ignoring the two boys. Shin'ya had spotted a sharp rock that they could use to cut themselves free. It wouldn't get them out of the cave, but at least they would be one step closer.

Junpei shifted a little more to his right, relying on Shin'ya's directions to find the potential escape tool that he currently had his back to. The sudden look of triumph on his face told Shin'ya that he'd finally gotten it. "Okay, just give me a minute."

Shin'ya kept an eye on Centarumon while Junpei worked to cut his bindings. A couple minutes later, the elder Warrior was free, and quietly started on Shin'ya's. This was where things started going wrong.

"Ow!" By complete accident, Junpei had, in his haste, jabbed Shin'ya in the wrist with a sharp point of the rock. The resulting cry got Centarumon's attention.

The large Digimon turned around and saw them, frozen in place with Junpei's hands obviously _not_ tied behind his back like they were supposed to be. "Hey!"

"Shit!" Junpei gasped, "RUN!" He stood up, pulling Shin'ya up with him by the arm. They dove to the side as Centarumon charged at them, aiming to grab them. Fortunately, the cave space was small, and they were able to dodge the much bulkier Digimon. Centarumon crashed into the cave's back wall. It didn't knock him out, but it did daze him, enough for the boys to get around him and get a head start out of the cave, Junpei keeping a hold of Shin'ya to keep him from falling over.

"Now what?" Shin'ya asked, wriggling his hands out of the half-cut ropes, "How do we find the others?"

As if on cue, a dull _boom_ echoed through the air, the ground trembled, and a small mushroom cloud began to form in the distance.

"In my experience, when in doubt, follow the explosions!"

The two of them raced towards the source of the sound, spurred on by the thundering of galloping hooves chasing them.

* * *

Takuya was furious. He didn't care what kind of reputation this evil bitch had, _no one_ messed with his little brother but him. He wasn't going to let her get in between them. "Tell me where my brother is _right now_!" he threatened, getting ready to Spirit Evolve.

Succumon laughed, a smug grin on her pale face. "I think not. I have more important things to take care of. You'd be better off searching on your own than attempting to extract an answer from me."

Half of Takuya considered just Spirit Evolving and beating the truth out of her. But the other half knew that it was likely to be a waste of time, time that could be spent looking for Shin'ya.

"Takuya, go," Kyōsuke insisted, "We can handle her. Find Shin'ya."

Succumon laughed. "Nine of you couldn't lay a hand on me; what makes you think the three of you can?"

Takuya didn't want to leave his teammates alone, because she was right. But if his brother was out there…

"SPIRIT EVOLUTION!" The sound of Tomoki, Izumi, and Kyōsuke transforming and charging at her interrupted his thoughts. Succumon gave an irritated sigh and pulled her spear out of thin air, nearly skewering Chackmon.

"KACHIKACHI KOCCHIN!"

"BREZZA PETALLO!"

"BOULDER WAVE!"

All three attacks hurtled towards the evil Digimon, but she only smirked before they crashed down with a resounding _BOOM_. It shook the ground beneath their feet and left quite an impressive crater.

"Did we get her?" Gnomemon asked as the dust began to clear.

Succumon's laughter began to echo through the air, and a cloud of crimson vapour, identical to the one she'd escaped in the first time, emerged from the wreckage and settled on a nearby ledge before dissipating to reveal Succumon herself. "Now that's more like it!" she declared, "And here I was thinking that those legends were _complete_ garbage." She smirked mockingly. "You still aren't enough to stand up to me, but at least you can provide me with a small amount of entertainment. ECLIPSE FANG!" The head of her spear began to spark with red electricity, and jabbed it at them. Takuya Spirit Evolved on the fly as he dove out of the way.

"TAKE HER DOWN!" he yelled.

* * *

 **Next chapter will be the last one, and the Legendary Warriors' ranks are finally filled out.**


	4. Xiumon of Steel

**And here's the last chapter! I'm sorry this has to end, it's been fun getting back into a Digimon headspace.**

 **DISCLAIMER: I don't own Digimon or any of its characters.**

 **WORD COUNT: 2104  
TOTAL: 7436  
**

* * *

 _Saturday, April 14_ _th_ _, 2007_

Shin'ya was pretty sure he'd run harder in the past five minutes than he'd ever run in his entire life. His chest was on fire, every step sent shooting pain up his legs, and the only thing keeping him going was the thundering of hooves and the splintering of wood coming from right behind him and Junpei. Centarumon would have already caught up to them if not for the densely-packed trees they were darting between. The crashing noises said that the bigger Digimon wasn't being stopped by them, but he was being slowed. Later, Shin'ya would wonder why he wasn't shooting at them, but for now his thoughts were focused on running like hell.

It felt like they'd been running forever, but they finally got to their destination. Shin'ya couldn't believe that a battlefield could be considered a safe haven, but with four super-powered friends nearby, it was better than the cave they just escaped from.

Agnimon, of course, was the first to notice them. "Shin'ya! Junpei! You guys okay?!"

Shin'ya didn't have enough breath to answer, just dropping to his knees in exhaustion. Centarumon burst out of the trees behind them, but Agnimon saw him coming and vaulted over their heads, kicking their pursuer in the face.

"Centarumon!" Succumon, who had previously appeared to have been having fun toying with the Legendary Warriors, now looked furious. "You were supposed to keep them contained!" She dodged a volley of blasts from Chackmon's 'Snow Bomber' and scowled. "How hard is it to guard two powerless humans?! Why didn't you just kill them when they escaped?!"

"B-but, you said they were to be kept alive!" Centarumon protested, dodging several furious 'Burning Salamander' punches from Agnimon.

" _Unless_ they tried to escape! Ugh, I'm surrounded by _idiots_!"

"SINKHOLE!" Gnomemon took advantage of her distraction and created a gaping hole in the cliffside they were fighting by. Unlike the last time, the hole was completely within his control. Succumon, who was currently perched on a ledge next to a mine entrance, gasped as the earth gave out under her feet, flying to safety at the last second.

Shin'ya shielded his eyes, coughing as the dust created by that attack swept over him. But before it even started to settle, he saw a bright light shining from the hole. "Is that…"

"The Spirit!" Succumon cried triumphantly, suddenly holding Shin'ya's D-Scanner in her free hand. She pointed it at the green-and-silver Spirit, which began to slowly float towards her.

"No!" Fairimon yelled, attempting to dive at her, but she was hit by Centarumon's 'Hunting Cannon' and fell with a scream, reverting back to human form as she did so. Thankfully Chackmon was close enough to catch her before she hit the ground.

"CREEPING ENSNAREMENT!" Just when it looked like Succumon was going to steal the Spirit, ten thick vines sprang out of the ground around her. Nine of them quickly wrapped around her while the tenth grabbed the D-Scanner right out of her hand.

Shin'ya turned to see Vinemon, Lowemon, Nymphmon, Bokomon, Neemon, Patamon, Plotmon, and Lopmon grouped near the treeline, Vinemon kneeling with both hands in the ground. "Guys!"

Vinemon grinned. "Glad we got here in time. Here, Shin'ya, it's your turn, now!" The vine 'finger' tossed the D-Scanner to him, and another, having found Junpei's, did the same.

"NO!" Succumon yelled, wrenching free, "I will NOT fail!" She lunged at Shin'ya with murder in her blood-red eyes.

"SPEED STAR!" A large, white blur rocketed from the treeline and crashed into her, sending her flying into the cliffside. It was a huge, metallic, wolf Digimon, and he was ready for battle.

"Garummon!" Chackmon cried, "All right!"

"This is Kōji's Beast Spirit form," Bokomon explained for the benefit of the newer Warriors.

"Badass, isn't it?" Junpei commented to Shin'ya, "But wait 'til you see mine!"

But Shin'ya couldn't help but be drawn to his own Spirit. He stood up shakily and pointed his D-Scanner, summoning the glowing object into it.

This was it. His time had finally come.

"SPIRIT EVOLUTION!"

The rush of power was exhilarating, blowing away all his previous exhaustion and pain. It was well worth the wait.

"XIUMON!"

Shin'ya's new form was easily the tallest of the ten Legendary Warriors. He was wearing olive green plated armour similar in design to that of an Imperial Chinese soldier, with red and yellow accents and a darker green leather under-armour. A pair of mirrored metal shields were strapped to his forearms – the original six silently noticed that they were essentially identical to those of his predecessor, Mercurymon. His face was covered by a shiny, silver, metal mask, with two narrow, rectangular holes for his eyes, which were now a red-orange colour.

"All right, little bro!" Agnimon cheered.

Succumon looked positively livid, but she didn't charge forward. Instead, she glared at her subordinate. "This is all _your_ fault," she hissed, "Worthless oaf! You've ruined the entire operation! CHASING CLOUD!" The crimson smoke appeared again to carry her away in retreat.

Centarumon reached out towards the vanishing cloud. "Succumon-sama, wait!" He grew visibly nervous when he saw that he was hilariously outnumbered. The nine Legendary Warriors (Junpei had also Spirit Evolved and Izumi was still down for the count) were giving him either glares or smirks.

"Xiumon," Agnimon began, sporting the latter, "Wanna do the honours?"

"My pleasure," he replied, stepping forward, "TIĚ HÒUWÈI!" He swung his right arm, and the shield on it detached, soared through the air, nailed Centarumon directly on the head, then flew right back to him. He immediately followed up with the left, this time striking his enemy's front legs and bringing him to his knees.

Centarumon fell with a shout of pain, but raised his weapon. "HUNTING CANNON!"

Some of his friends shouted out warnings, even if it wasn't the super-charged version; Succumon must have taken the power-up with her. But Xiumon stood his ground, holding up both shields to block it and somehow knowing that he could. "SHĂN LIÀNG DE SĪKĂO!" Both shields absorbed the beam attack and then shot out a brighter, more powerful version straight back at Centarumon.

The Centaur Digimon's body turned black, and his Digicode appeared. Xiumon held up his D-Scanner. "Digicode, Scan!" The body dissolved into nothing as the code was sucked into the Scanner.

The nine of them changed back into their normal human forms, Shin'ya sinking to his knees as the exhaustion of running God knows how far made its abrupt return. As tired as he was, it didn't stop the huge grin stretching across his face. He'd finally done it. He'd finally become strong like his big brother.

"Shin'ya!" Speak of the devil, Shin'ya barely had time to look up before his brother slammed into him. "Thank God you're okay!"

"Nii-san," he choked, as his brother had him in a stranglehold of a hug, "Kinda need to breathe, here."

Nii-san eased his grip, but didn't let go. "You scared the crap out of me, you know that?"

"I don't think he _asked_ to be kidnapped," Kōji pointed out, rolling his eyes with a nonetheless impressed grin on his face. "You did well, kid. Pretty much gave the rest of us nothing to do." The others echoed the sentiment (Bokomon gushing on and on about how wonderful it was now that all ten Legendary Warriors were in power). Shin'ya felt his grin widen with pride.

"Of course he did!" Nii-san bragged, finally letting go, "We _are_ related, after all. Awesomeness is in our blood!"

* * *

Tomoki wasn't expecting anyone to be waiting for them when they got back to the terminal under Shibuya Station. He had no reason to, since the only time he'd seen other people there (besides his friends) was on their first visit five years ago.

So when they were greeted by a very annoyed Sasuke and an equally irritated girl their age, it was more than a bit of a surprise. "Mami?" Shin'ya gasped, still leaning on his brother for support, "What- How did you-"

"I followed you here," 'Mami' snapped, "Because I got sick of wondering where you were always sneaking off to."

"Ditto," Sasuke echoed, crossing his arms and glaring at Tomoki, "So, why the hell is there a secret underground terminal here, and where have you all been for the past two hours?!"

The ten Legendary Warriors exchanged panicked looks.

* * *

It took them twenty minutes to explain what they'd been doing to Tomoki and Shin'ya's friends, and to convince them they weren't insane. It took Junpei impulsively Spirit Evolving into Blitzmon to accomplish the latter. Their reactions were completely different.

Sasuke seemed to have lost his voice, his mouth opening and closing noiselessly while he slowly shook his head.

Mami, on the other hand, whapped Shin'ya on the head and began to berate him: "I can't believe you kept this from me!"

"We were keeping it from everyone," Izumi interrupted, wincing. She just _knew_ her midsection was going to be one massive bruise in the morning.

"And we'll need you two to keep quiet about this, too," Kōichi insisted, "People would freak out if they knew. Parents, especially."

Sasuke looked over at Juan. "I thought your mom was super-protective, or something. How have you been getting around that?"

The Warrior of Wood glanced at the floor. "I brought her and my Papà along with us once, because I didn't want to lie to them, and tried to show them that I could take care of myself. Papà trusts that I'll be okay, but Mamà… not so much."

"His dad's been covering for him," Tomoki added, "She thinks Juan's been staying away from us."

"We could help with that!" Mami volunteered, "If Juan has a couple new friends to vouch for him, she'll think he's only hanging out with us instead of fighting with you guys!"

"Hey, don't automatically volunteer me!" Sasuke sputtered, "I mean, I'll do it, but you shouldn't just assume I will!"

The two of them started bickering back and forth, much to the amusement of their new friends.

* * *

Succumon gritted her teeth and remained on one knee with her head bowed as her master continued to berate her for 'her' failure. "It wasn't my fault, Master Pyremon!" she finally snapped, lifting her gaze up to him, "If I'd been given a competent minion, my plan would have succeeded!"

There was a collective intake of breath at her insubordinate outburst. Succumon watched warily as the Master, the Shadow Lord Pyremon, gripped the arms of his throne in anger. _"You dare talk back to me like some impertinent child?"_ he growled.

Before she could even begin to come up with an attempt to soothe him, she was hit by a bolt of purple lightning from the Master's eyes, filling her with pain. She dropped to all fours as the onslaught continued. "M-Master, I apologise," she begged, loathe as she was to beg in any situation, "I spoke out of turn!"

The lightning stopped. _"You acted without my leave, you chose your own assistant, therefore you have no one to blame but yourself. Now get out of my sight. I have an assignment for Incumon. You are not to be involved."_

Fuming, Succumon stood and stalked out of the throne room, glaring at any low-ranking flunky that dared display pleasure at her humiliation. Really, she was the only truly competent follower the Master had, and he was scolding her like an errant child!

"So much for your plan." She spun around to see a Gizamon, the same one that'd failed to procure the Spirit of Wood, smirking at her. "Guess you're not as perfect as you think."

She snarled at the diminutive little upstart, furtively checking to be sure they were alone in the corridor. Then she spat at him.

The Gizamon suddenly found himself pinned to the ground by a sticky slime similar to that of a certain Hydramon, who'd 'mysteriously vanished' from their ranks after her own failure. Succumon advanced, ignoring his pleas for mercy, and raised her spear.

TO BE CONTINUED…

* * *

 **Xiumon's attacks mean 'Iron Defender' and 'Shining Reflection', respectively, in Chinese.** **These translations come directly from Google Translate, so I apologise if they're inaccurate.**

 **Xiumon's name comes from the Chinese word for 'shield' and is pronounced 'Shiumon'. His design and attacks are inspired by Mercurymon, Victor Von Doom and Captain America of Marvel Comics (for the metal face and shield-throwing bit, respectively), and the results I got entering 'Imperial Chinese Armour' into Google Images.**

 **So yeah, I'm glad to have finally gotten this story out after five years of writer's block, distraction, etc., but it'll be a while before I can put out Part V. Sorry, guys, but it's gonna be another long wait. There are 15 other fics higher up on my priority list. The tentative title is: 'Return to the Digital World V: Amends'. Since I haven't actually started writing it, though I have some plot elements decided, for the preview, here's an idea for a scene that's been bouncing around my head:**

 _ **Lexi was heartbroken, Kōji could tell. She'd been searching for her sister for seven and a half months, and just when she'd found her, Londyn had refused to let her into her apartment. "Why?" she whispered, "What could have happened to her that she doesn't want me to see her?" She suddenly sort of threw herself at him and began crying into his shoulder.**_

 ** _Kōji froze for a second, not at all used to having to deal with crying girls. Then he just settled for holding her and letting her continue. She seemed to take some sort of comfort from that._**

 ** _"I mean, I don't care what she's seen, what she's done. She should know that I won't judge her like our parents. I just want my big sister back in my life."_**

 ** _Londyn must have heard those words, because a couple seconds later, the pair could hear the locks on the other side of the apartment door clicking, and then the door itself slowly swung open. The first thing Kōji noticed was that Londyn could easily be mistaken for a slightly older version of Lexi, with the same red hair and brown eyes, as well as a similar face. The second thing he noticed was probably the reason why she'd been too ashamed to open the door at first._**

 ** _"Oh my God," Lexi whispered._**


End file.
